Baking My Way: Saucepan Mocha Fudgies

 I'm not a coffee drinker, I don't even like the smell of coffee but I had to follow my own rules and bake everything in the book. I tried one of the cookies and it was pretty good, very coffeeish to me, but I knew it was good for what it was supposed to be. I had Marshall (Mr. Coffee) try one and he says they're great! So I think it's safe to say that if you like coffee you are going to love this cookie! It's very rich so with a cup of black tea, or along with your coffee it would be a good treat. 


Cookies:
1/2 cup butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon instant coffee crystals
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Frosting:
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee crystals
2 teaspoon hot water
2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons butter
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Cookies:

- Heat oven to 350.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, chocolate and coffee; cook on low heat until melted, stir contently. Remove from heat; cool 5 minutes.
- Stir in brown sugar and egg; beat well.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
- Stir flour mixture into chocolate mixture alternately with milk. Beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix well.
- Stir in nuts. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
- Bake for 7 to 9 minutes.
- Immediately remove from cookie sheet and cool.

Frosting:
- In a small bowl dissolve coffee in hot water.
- Add remaining frosting ingredients; beat until smooth. Add enough milk for desired spreading consistency.
- Frost cooled cookies

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

Doesn't this look amazing? I bought some candy corn the other day to bake with it and I'm sort of tempted to make this instead of my original choice!

Savory Sunday

Are you in the mood for Halloween yet? I thought I'd share with you a few fun ideas I've found this week. Also check out the Molasses Jack-o-Lantern Cookies I posted yesterday! They are so good, you have to try them!!

Now to the picks for this week!! Also some seriously tasty stuff!

Apple Cider Pudding Cake from Joyful Baker 

Nutella Scones from Goodness of Baking

Copycat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts from Homegrown Beans

 

Loaded Mashed Potatoes from Like Mother, Like Daughter 

Cheesy garlic bread pull apart from The Real Housewives of Riverton

Here's how it will work:

1) Link up to the link below (link as many as you want but try to link something savory if you can)
2) Grab the Savory Sunday button and put it in the post you are sharing
3) Leave a comment after you post
4) I'd love for you to become a follower if you're not but it's not a requirement :)

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Baking My Way: Molasses Jack-O-Lantern Cookies

These cookies are seriously tasty! If you bake them so they're still nice and soft they just melt in your mouth with that butter cream frosting. Oh, I'm so glad I'm bringing them to a party tonight because other wise I would just sit here and eat them all by myself!

Ingredients

Cookies
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons grated orange peal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves



Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups powdered sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
3 drops red food color
6 drops yellow food color
4 drops green food color
Miniature chocolate chips
Gumdrops
Candy Corn

Directions to make Cookies

In large bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg and blend well.
Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level off. Stir in flour and remaining cookie ingredients and mix well.

Cover cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours for easier handling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

On well-floured surface, roll half of dough to 1/8-inch thickness.

Cut with floured 3-inch pumpkin-shaped or round cookie cutter.

Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Repeat with remaining half of dough.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 6 to 9 minutes or until set.

Immediately remove cookies from sheets and place on wire rack to cool completely.

In small bowl, combine half of Buttery Icing, 3 drops red food color and 3 drops of yellow food color and blend well to make orange icing.

Divide remaining icing mixture in half and place in two small bowls.

Add 4 drops green food color to one bowl and remaining 3 drops yellow food color to second bowl and blend each bowl well to make green and yellow icing.

To decorate cookies, frost each cookie with orange icing.

Use green and yellow icings, chocolate chips, candy corn and gumdrops to make faces on the frosted cookies.


Directions to make Icing

In large bowl, beat butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and salt.

Beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons milk and beat at high speed until light and fluffy.

Add enough additional milk for desired spreading consistency.

(This is what the cookies look like in the book. I decided to do them my way...Mainly because I didn't want to go out and buy all the little candies and a cookie cutter just for this recipe. Maybe next year..Plus I already had those sprinkles, and who doesn't like sprinkles!)

Health Tip of the Week: How Many Calories should I Eat?

I found a great website with a calorie calculator on it.

“This calculator gives an approximation. If your goal is to lose weight by burning off excess body fat, aim to eat 500 fewer calories per day than your daily caloric needs, and maintain or increase your exercise activity. Do not go below 1200 calories per day unless on a medically supervised weight loss program or after consultation with your doctor.” – quote from the site


I also found this great website that gives you the calorie count for almost all the different food products on the market.

Here’s an example of a couple that I was sort of surprised about:

1 tbsp Salted Butter -100 calories
1 cup of Scrambled Eggs – 367 calories
2 Chips Ahoy! Cookies – 160 calories
A handful of Dill Pickle Flavored Potato Chips- 160 Calories

Check back next week for some great calorie burning exercises!

Baking Goal: Peanut Butter Truffle Brownie

Don't these look wonderful! I wish I had one right now! 

Check out the recipe at Thou Must Live and Eat

Mango Swirl Ice Cream

This ice cream is a wonderful cool down on a hot summer's day and it's the perfect mix of fruit and cream, it's just all around tasty!

Ice Cream
2 1/2 cups whip cream
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tube Cool Whip

Mix all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Freeze/churn in ice cream maker. When the ice cream is to a desired thickness fold in Cool Whip. Put the ice cream in the freezer to further set.

In the mean time start on the swirl!

Mango Swirl (Source)

11⁄4 l blue ribbon vanilla ice cream
3 medium ripe mangoes
2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon


Allow ice cream to soften until it can be stirred.

Skin mangoes, cut into chunks and place in a blender. Add sugar and lemon juice and blend until smooth.

Swirl mango mixture through ice cream and refreeze.

Savory Sunday

 from Big Bear's Wife

 Maple Walnut Fudge from Let's Talk Dollars & Cents

  Crock-pot Ham & Potatoes from Gluten Freely Frugal

 

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake from J for C Home

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Ganache Glaze from 

The South Padre Island Flip Flop Foodie

Creamy Beef Stroganoff from Cooking with K

Here's how it will work:

1) Link up to the link below (link as many as you want but try to link something savory if you can)
2) Grab the Savory Sunday button and put it in the post you are sharing
3) Leave a comment after you post
4) I'd love for you to become a follower if you're not but it's not a requirement :)

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Guest Post: Erin from Art for Life

When Amanda approached me to write a guest post I was really flattered because I am just a humble home cook with a fairly new blog, www.artfoodlifeblog.com . I teach art during the day, and spend a lot of time in the kitchen afterward to unwind. I am an amateur gardener, but really, just so that I can get fresh food for the table. My thumb is only army green at best. Cajun born, Texas raised; I know a little something about soulful food. My food tends to be straight-forward, unpretentious, and above all else, flavorful.

What is your name? Erin from Art+Food+Life
Where do you live? Katy (near Houston), Texas
What's your favorite recipe? That is SO hard! I will have to go with a little piece of my childhood: Potatoes and Sausage
What's your favorite kitchen tool? My cast iron skillet
What do you live by in life? Do not let a day pass you buy without appreciating something beautiful: the color of the clouds at sunset, the face of the person you love, the song of a mocking bird.

Today I am sharing this wonderful Greek sauce called Tzatziki (pronounced dzah-DZEE-kee). Think of it as the Greek version of Ranch dressing. It is healthy, fresh, and flavorful. I like it on burgers and gyros. It also makes an excellent dip for pita chips and veggies. For those hot summer days, serve it on a salad of tomatoes, cucumber, and olives for a creamy and fresh appetizer.

Making this sauce is very simple. Scoop the seeds out of your cucumber. Chop the cucumber then squeeze it in a tea towel to remove any extra juice. Then combine the cucumber with yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and dill in the bowl of your food processor. Finally, pulse until it comes together as a sauce. Tzatziki can be stored in your fridge for up to a week.

Tzatziki Sauce

1 1/2 cup chopped cucumber, seeds removed
16 ounces strained Greek yogurt (I prefer Fage brand)
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about half a lemon)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped dill

Place the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; discard liquid. Combine the cucumber, yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and dill in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the sauce comes together but is not yet smooth (10 - one second pulses). Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week. Serve cold.

Baking Goal: Cherry Clafouti

Oh Yum! The picture makes me think that it's a hard thing to bake but I took a look at the recipe and it looks super easy, which you know I love!

Check it out at Vivre Kitchen

Health Tip Of The Week: The Benefits of Ginger

In Eastern societies, ginger has always been known for its healing powers. Pythagorus was one of its greatest supporters in Ancient Greece. King Henry VIII of England used it to protect against the plague.

Though we don't know for sure if ginger can actually protect you from the plague, we do know that it is beneficial in many other ways.

Denmark researchers have discovered that ginger can block the effects of prostaglandins. These are substances that cause inflammation of the blood vessels in the brain, which leads to migraines.

Though the results are still experimental, 1/3 teaspoon of fresh of powdered ginger taken when you feel a migraine coming on can help stop pain before it starts.

Using the same theory, ginger has been found to produce "marked" relief in arthritis pain. The ginger tea described above or 1/2 teaspoon of ginger is recommended by Danish researchers for arthritis relief .

A researcher at Cornell University Medical College discovered that ginger has an effect on blood clots that is similar to that of aspirin. By the same token, it appears that high cholesterol levels are
lowered using the same active ingredient, thromboxane.

When buying ginger, fresh is best! Be sure to avoid ginger with dry, wrinkled, skin, mould or soft spots. African and Indian ginger are the most potent. Grating or using a garlic press will give you the maximum benefits.

Ginger can definitely give you many benefits but more is not always better. An ounce a day should give you all the benefits you will need!


(Source)

Mocha Mud Pie for my brithday

Now mud pie is my all time favorite dessert and I've had it right a couple of times (one being back home) but I find it's very hard to find a place that does it just right (to my standards at least, and I'm pretty picky when it comes to this!) so I decided for my birthday this year I was going to try and make it (I thought that would be a good idea now that I have an ice cream maker!).

I searched high and low for a good recipe but most of them weren't very good or sort of cheated using premade ice cream so I came up with my own, with a little help from here and here.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out and I kid you not it's the best mud pie I have ever had! (And I'm not just saying that because I made it. I'd be honest if it sucked! ha ha)

It's pretty easy to make:
1) Make the crust, press down into 2 3'' spring form pan (I'm sure this would also be enough for a 6'' or a thinner cake in a 9'')

2) Make the ice cream and spread over crust
(I had some store bought hot fudge sauce that I put a spoonful of right in the middle of the crust before I poured the ice cream in. It was a nice treat to discover that when eating the cake after. I haven't found a good recipe yet to make it at home but at soon as I do you bet I'll be posting it!)

3) Set in freezer at least over night


Mocha Ice Cream

• 1 cup whip cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 2-3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
• 1/4 cup chocolate syrup

Preparation: 

Combine ingredients. Stir until sugar and coffee granules dissolve. Freeze according to ice cream freezer's directions.

Chocolate Syrup
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 dash salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:
Stir together.

Boil 2-5 minutes, stirring rapidly, until sauce begins to thicken.

This must be stored in the fridge.


Crust
13 Oreos
1 tbsp Butter

Preparation:
Take 13 oreos & 1 tbsp butter, grind up, smooth it out in the spring form pans

(The toppings are just whip cream and store bought caramel sauce) 

Baking My Way: Oatmeal & Candy Cookie Pops

I had no reason to put my cookies on the sticks but I thought I would leave that step in so you all could take it or leave it as you like. It would be fun if you were doing a cookie bouquet or something for kids, but I wasn't doing either.  

I liked this cookies. I ran out of the candy-coated chocolate pieces so I did half chocolate chips, half candy-coated chocolate pieces and I think I would like that better. For some reason I'm not a huge fan of that candy crunch in a cookie. They would make a great on the road or camping cookie. 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 cup candy covered plain chocolate candies
• 20 wooden popsicle sticks

Directions:

Prep Time: 2 hrs
Total Time: 2 1/4 hrs

1. In large bowl; combine brown sugar, sugar, and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Stir in oats and chocolate pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.
2. Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Shape dough into 2-inch balls; insert wooden stick into each ball. Place 4 cookie pops on each greased cookie sheet; flatten to 1/4 inch thickness. If desired, press additional candy coated pieces into the top of each cookie.
3. Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes and remove from cookie sheets.

Savory Sunday

Did I show you this pretty yet? Yep, I got one! Finally!! Between my friends and family they got me my dream mixer. I've already made a couple of great things with it and I'm loving it!

Also, I sold my old mixer to someone that will love it as much as I did which means a lot to be because I really get attached to things (especially things that create such tasty items!)

Speaking of tasty here are my picks for this week!

Slow cooker red beans & rice from Lou Lou Sucre

Bacon Wrapped Chicken from Artsy-Farty Mama

Garlic Fries from Mushki Loves


Enjoy!

Maraschino Cherry Muffins from Let's Talk Dollars and Cents

Pumpkin Crunch Cake from Flour Me With Love

Here's how it will work:

1) Link up to the link below (link as many as you want but try to link something savory if you can)
2) Grab the Savory Sunday button and put it in the post you are sharing
3) Leave a comment after you post
4) I'd love for you to become a follower if you're not but it's not a requirement :)

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Pumpkin Cheesecake

 This cheesecake is so taste! It's the perfect fall treat for someone that loves pumpkin but finds straight up pumpkin pie a little much. It's creamy and smooth and great with whip cream! I give this one a 5 out of 5!


Ingredients

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup melted salted butter

Filling:
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
2 eggs
1/4-1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:
In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 6-inch springform pan. Set aside.


For filling:
Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-cheesecake-recipe/index.html

Health Tip Of The Week: Protein Smoothie

I love to start my day off with a smoothie. There's nothing better then getting in a few servings of fruit, some protein and just some all around freshness.

I find that if I have one of these smoothies for breaky it keeps me going well until lunch and after. It gives me a lot of energy and just all around makes me feel better.

This one is my favourite but of course there are lots of other types.

1 cup Strawberries

1 Banana

1 Apple

1/2 cup Organic Vanilla Yogurt

1/2 cup Fruit Juice (I use Apple)

1 scoop BodyFlex

Put the yogurt and juice in the blender. Add the apple. Blend. Add the rest of the fruit. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Baking Goal: Cookies Baked in a Waffle Iron

Making cookies the same way you make my fav breaky? Not sure if it gets any better! 

Check out this recipe at The Better Baker

Creamy Cherry Amaretto Ice Cream

This ice cream is wonderful! The Disaronno adds a nice unique flavor to the already rich ice cream. I highly suggest thing one for a dinner party with some friends!

2 1/2 cups whip cream
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon amaretto (I used Disaronno)*
1/2 tube Cool Whip


Mix all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Freeze/churn in ice cream maker. When the ice cream is to a desired thickness fold in Cool Whip. Put the ice cream in the freezer to further set.

*If you don't have either or don't want to use that just use vanilla instead

Savory Sunday

So I bought this stuff last year when everything was 70% off right after Halloween and I couldn't wait to use it. I put it out for a couple of days but it felt like I was a little late so I am so excited to get to put it all up this year! I thought I'd get you into the fall and Thanksgiving mood for this Savory Sunday (not that you have to post fall themed foods).

Let's get to the picks this week shall we? Great recipes again guys, and hello to all you new followers and contributors out there! Welcome! It's great to have you here!

Chicken Pot Pie from Talking Dollars and Cents

Caramel Cake from Effie's Recipe Box

Green Bean Beef Skillet from Veggie Conversion 365

Sausage Balls from Veggie Converter

Here's how it will work:

1) Link up to the link below (link as many as you want but try to link something savory if you can)
2) Grab the Savory Sunday button and put it in the post you are sharing
3) Leave a comment after you post
4) I'd love for you to become a follower if you're not but it's not a requirement :)

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